Ground-water concerns for the Eastern Shore, Virginia

The Eastern Shore of Virginia is a peninsula that is surrounded on three sides by salty water and has no major fresh surface-water sources; groundwater provides the sole freshwater supply. Beginning in about 1965, increases in groundwater withdrawals for agricultural, commercial, urban, and industrial uses have caused water-level declines and have created cone-like depressions in the water-level surface around major pumping centers near the Towns of Accomac, Cape Charles, Cheriton, Chincoteague, Exmore, and Hallwood, Virginia. Increased water withdrawals could adversely affect the supply of fresh groundwater on the Eastern Shore. In 1992, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the counties of Accomack and Northampton, completed a comprehensive study of the groundwater resources of the Eastern Shore. This report highlights the major results of that study. (USGS)